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Thread: Vice positioning - general concensus

  1. #1

    Question Vice positioning - general concensus

    I'm planning out building my first 'proper' workbench and so I've looked at a lot of different plans on the web. Vices tend to be positioned on the front left-hand side of the bench (presumably for right-handed people, which I am, I can see that left-handed people might want it positioned on the right), however when I'm using my workmate bench I always position the work on the right-hand side, which means that having the vice on the right makes more sense to me.

    Am I missing something, or am I just doing things wrong?

    Matt

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Graham, NC
    Posts
    30
    Matt,
    If you plan on using the bench for jointing boards, put it on the left. The vise gets in the way otherwise. Christopher Schwarz states that it is just obvious why it is on the left for right handers in one of his books and had a response to a question in PW that it holds better. I call BS on that as the force is the same no matter which way you plane. Anyway, as a lefty the reason for the typical vise location is obvious to me as a bruised hip can attest.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Elmodel, Ga.
    Posts
    798
    I too thought about location of the vise when I built my bench. I don't use hand planes much and was not going to do much jointing, so I put my vise on the right side. It works better for me there.
    My Dad always told me "Can't Never Could".

    SWE

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    2,758
    It can depend on where the bench sits in your shop. My bench is in the center so I can work from all sides. My vise is across the end so it works from both sides. To saw a board to length I usually saw with my right hand and catch the offcuts with my left. Planing goes either way.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
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    SoCal
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    22,494
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    As always, the answer to these types of questions is, what works best for you. You’ve seen many responses here from many people, all are different as you might expect. The standard layout, if there is such a thing, for a right-handed person is the face vice at the front left corner and the end vice at the right hand end. Variations are as numerous as the differences in woodworkers.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  6. #6
    Thanks all, I think I'm going to go with the vice on the right but built it in such a way that it'll be easy enough to move if need be.

  7. #7
    If you are using the vise to hold material while cutting, then positioning on the left allows you to support the cutoff with your left hand as you saw with your right.

  8. #8
    My solution to this issue is 2 vices - one on the right and one on the left - big boards held in both

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